Laundry
by GoldLuula
Summary: Merlin and Mordred share a moment in the laundry room...


Merlin pressed his head against the glass, straining to catch a glimpse of his golden haired prince. The rain was coming down hard, obscuring his vision. It was madness to practice outside on a day like this, absolute madness. But Arthur was stubborn and insisted on training no matter what the weather, even if that weather happened to be snow... That was a story to tell...

Shaking himself, Merlin got up and headed down to the laundry rooms. Arthur would expect him to help him get undressed – silly bugger still hadn't worked out how to do it himself – and he needed to get some dry clothes otherwise there would be hell to pay later. His footsteps echoed along the long corridors. Another pair began to reply to his echo, speeding up and growing louder. He spun round. Running was never good news.

A soaking wet mound of brown hair hurtled towards him. Mordred. Merlin backed away as the younger boy skidded to a halt and began talking at high speed.

"Merlin you should have been down today it was amazing Arthur taught me loads of new techniques and I knocked him over but then he grabbed my sword and it all went a bit pair shaped but it was still-"

Merlin cut him off. "Whoa. Stop. It's great that you had a nice training session and all, but you're trailing mud everywhere and someone's gonna have to clean that up."

Mordred frowned, looking at the path of mud standing out on the white stone. He lent down, pulled off his boots and stood in his socks, grinning at Merlin. "Better?"

Merlin shook his head. "Look, come with me. I'm off to the laundry room, you can clean up there."

And so they set off, the brunettes bickering as they continued on their journey.

Merlin finished sorting through the large pile of clothes he had in front of him, satisfied that Arthur would be happy with his selection. Next to him Mordred was trying to find some clothes which belonged to him, but was failing miserably. Despite all the choices, it seemed that nothing belonging to him was there. He shivered. Castles were never the warmest of places, especially not in winter and certainly not when you were soaking. Merlin noticed the shivering and turned to face him.

"You're going to catch a cold if you keep those clothes on any longer." His voice was smooth and husky. How had Mordred never noticed that before?

Merlin reached out, interrupting Mordred's musings by pulling off Mordred's jacket and giving him his own. Mordred put it down on the pile and pulled his shirt off, revealing a skinny, but muscular chest. He grabbed Merlin's jacket and put it on, wrapping it around him and snuggling into his warmth. It only made the shivering worse. Ignoring Merlin's gasp of protest he pulled off his trousers and grabbed Merlin.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Merlin cried out.

"Hugging you to share body heat. Are you seriously telling me that you never did this with Arthur?"

He looked up at Merlin, pleased to see the tips of his sticky out ears flushing red.

"We may have once or twice, but only in the wilderness! Not where people might walk in and see us! And it was for survival reasons only!"

Mordred pushed him against the wall, unwilling to let his new radiator get away. His face was firmly buried in Merlin's chest, wet hair staining his top. Merlin started to say something, thought better, and left him there. The shocked expression on his face was priceless – Arthur would have paid good gold to see that.

After a few minutes Mordred spoke. "You know, I never hated you. No matter what it may have seemed like, I... liked you. More than I should, I guess. But you've never really felt the same – I can tell. And I really don't understand because I've never done anything wrong. We can both use magic – we should be partners, not fight all the time! Why do you hate me?"

There was silence for a bit. Then Merlin's arms came down across Mordred's back. Mordred stiffened, surprised, then relaxed into his embrace.

"I... I don't hate you. I just don't trust you. I know the magic you have; I know what you're capable of. And having you so close to Arthur, in a position where you could hurt him. It makes me scared."

Mordred was hurt. After all this time, after proving himself time and time again, and Merlin still couldn't see past the Druid boy he once was. He was a knight of Camelot now, and his past deeds were just that, past deeds. Arthur had accepted him, so why couldn't the one person whose opinion mattered the most?

"If there was something I could do to make you trust me, anything at all. I'd do it."

Merlin felt Mordred's heart quicken as he said those words. The boy must be serious.

"Well" he drawled, running a hand through Mordred's hair. It was soft, despite the wetness of it. "I guess it would have to be something pretty big..."

Mordred raised his head, a mischievous glint in his eye. Something big?

Leaning in, he pressed his lips to Merlin's. They were warm, surprised at the sudden kiss, but unresisting. Ignoring Merlin's first attempts to break free he continued to kiss him, enjoying himself. Surely that would be enough to get Merlin to trust him?

Merlin was shocked when Mordred kissed him, oddly enough. It wasn't quite what he had been expecting. He tried to pull away, but Mordred wouldn't let him. Internally sighing he gave up. It wasn't as if he hadn't had worse done to him. And it wasn't as if Mordred was the worst of kissers either.

When they broke away from each other, panting slightly, neither knew what to say to each other. They just stood there, sharing one of those deep moments where you stare into the other person's eyes. It was quite possible that they could have stayed like that for the rest of the day, had they not been interrupted by a short cough from the door. Expecting the worst, they turned around slowly.

They had gotten the worst. A disgruntled Arthur stood there, blue eyes flashing menacingly as he watched Mordred flap around, trying to find his trousers.

"What exactly is going on here?"

Merlin fumbled for an excuse.

"Um, we spent a little too much time in the tavern?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, stepping towards the two.

"Mordred, if I ever see you treat my servant like that again. Honestly, does nobody know how to give a decent kiss around here anymore?"

And with that, he grabbed Merlin, giving him the kiss of a lifetime.

The End.

Tadaa, hope you like it. It's so camp! And terribly written. But I don't care 3 Have a great Christmas!

**A/N: Written as a present to help my friends with the Post-Merlin Depression... It was written mainly in the early hours. I apologise for the OOCness.**


End file.
